NEWS

Category: Press Releases

Formula DRIFT 2010 Round 4: Throwdown Results;
Tanner Foust Takes the Victory and the Lead in the Tires.com Triple Crown

Long Beach, Calif. – July 10, 2010 – Formula DRIFT entered Evergreen Speedway for Round 4: Throwdown in Monroe, Washington. Tanner Foust takes the victory and moves into second place overall in the Pro Championship standings, while taking the lead in the chase for the Tires.com Triple Crown.

Evergreen Speedway hosted Round 4: Throwdown to a packed stadium. Fans gathered to watch the exciting competition under the clear skies and warm sun. Attendance increased from past seasons proving the growth and popularity of the sport in the Pacific Northwest is as strong as ever.

“The drifting fans in the Pacific Northwest prove to be some of the most diehard and enthusiastic in the nation,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “The drifting market is thriving in the area as was evident by the increased attendance from last season, despite two major sporting events occurring simultaneously.”

Round 4: Throwdown brought exciting drifting action back to the Pacific Northwest with Tanner Foust in the Rockstar Energy Scion TC taking his first victory of the season moving him into second place overall in the Pro Championship standings. Foust also takes the lead in the second event of the Tires.com Triple Crown with the win. The final battle paired Foust with Ryan Tuerck in the Mobil 1 / Maxxis Tires Pontiac Solstice, Tuerck crashed into the wall coming off the banking on the second run giving Foust the victory. The consolation run showcased Darren McNamara in the Falken Tire Saturn Sky against Michihiro Takatori piloting the Drift Emporium / BF Goodrich Nissan S13. McNamara edged out Takatori to take third place.

“This was an epic event and took a lot of work to get this victory,” said Tanner Foust, winner of Round 4: Throwdown. “After running multiple “One More Time” battles we almost ran out of Hankook tires, but to advance against competitors that put on such clean tandem battles made this victory even more sweet.”

Long Beach, Calif. – June 6, 2010 – Formula DRIFT continued the season at Wall Stadium for Round 3: The Gauntlet. Daijiro Yoshihara wins his second event in a row, while Vaughn Gittin, Jr. podiums for the third straight event and retains the Pro Championship leader

Wall Stadium hosted Round 3: The Gauntlet to a packed venue. Fans were treated to clear weather and an action-packed weekend. The level of competition has increased forcing multiple “One More Time” calls from the judges, which gave the fans more head to head action.

“The seventh season continues to be unbelievably strong with the depth and skill of the driver pool,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “We want to give it up the drivers for putting on another great show and to the fans for their continued support.”

Round 3: The Gauntlet showcased exciting tandem action that had Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire / Falken Tire Nissan S13 take his second consecutive victory by beating out Falken teammate Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the Monster Energy / Falken Tires Ford Mustang in the Finals for the second time in a row. Gittin has now found the podium in each of the 3 events this season with a victory at Round 1 and two second place finishes at Round 2 and Round 3 and retains the Pro Championship points lead. The consolation round placed last season’s winner Darren McNamara in the Falken Tires Saturn Sky against 2-time Formula DRIFT champion Tanner Foust in the Rockstar Energy Drink Scion tC with Foust edging it out for third place at the event.

“I’ve got my mojo back!,” said Daijiro Yoshihara, winner of Round 3: The Gauntlet. “This feels incredible to win back to back events and I could not have done it without the help of my team and sponsors.”

The season continues on July 9-10, 2010 for Round 4: Throwdown at Evergreen Speedway. Tickets are available on-line. For more information and details visit the Formula DRIFT website at: www.formuladrift.com

Long Beach, Calif. – May 13, 2010 – Formula DRIFT continued the new DriftStream with YoParts.com at Round 2: Road to the Championship registering a massive 238,500 unique viewers watching the event live. Formula DRIFT and YoParts.com partner with Justin.tv to distribute the live stream. Over 128 countries tuned in to watch the action at Road Atlanta.

“The first live stream had over 78,000 unique IP’s, this one registered 238,500 unique IP’s. These numbers are absolutely ground-breaking,” said Ryan Sage, co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “We are talking about a minimum of 238,000 people that chose to watch the broadcast, and not just random clicks. These numbers don’t even take into account anyone else in the room of the specific IP registered. If we were using Nielson TV ratings, these numbers would be closer to 500,000 individual viewers. This is a massive home run.”

Formula DRIFT and YoParts.com have partnered with Justin.tv, the easiest way to share live video, to help feed the DriftStream across multiple channels. Justin.tv specializes in live streaming and helps engage with the live audience.

“Justin.tv is very excited about the partnership with Formula DRIFT. Formula D’s content is a perfect use case of our platform – great, professionally created content that needs an outlet to reach its global fanbase,” said Kevin Lin, COO of Justin.tv. “The test broadcast of the Road to the Championship event in Atlanta on Justin.tv drew over 200,000 unique viewers in the first day. Clearly there are drift fans out there anxious to get access to these live events, and Justin.tv is going to be that source for them.”

“After just two events the future of the DriftStream is looking bright! We were able to deal with some pretty difficult technology challenges and with the help of our DriftStream chat audience we were able to fine tune the stream each day,” said Tom Masiero, co-founder of YoParts.com. “This event we implemented a new feature that that included the behind the scenes audio from the Official Radio chatter that received rave reviews. This event would not have been possible without our sponsors Royal Purple, Mishimoto, Need for Speed, RacingJunk.com and Belle-1 Communications. We are looking forward to Round 3: The Gauntlet in Wall, NJ with some great new features for the Formula Drift Fan base!”

The Drift Stream will continue at Round 3: The Gauntlet on June 4-5 in Wall, NJ when Formula DRIFT returns to Wall Speedway.

Daijiro Yoshihara Takes the Victory and the Lead in the Tires.com Triple Crown

Long Beach, Calif. – May 8, 2010 – Formula DRIFT returned to the site of the inaugural event at Road Atlanta for Round 2: Road to the Championship. Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire / Falken Tire Nissan S13 takes the victory and the lead in the first event of the Tires.com Triple Crown.

For the seventh straight season, Formula DRIFT brought drifting back to Road Atlanta and provided exciting action for all the die-hard drift fans in the South. The thousands of fans that came to watch the event were treated to great weather as temperatures dropped dramatically for the main event day. The competition was as exciting as ever with the drivers pushing the limits of their vehicles through one of the best courses for drifting.

“It all started over seven years ago here at Road Atlanta,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Each year the drivers and teams have stepped it up and the level of competition is as tight as it has ever been. This is a great sign of the constant evolution of this still emerging sport.”

Round 2: Road to the Championship showcased intense tandem action that kept fans in their seats throughout the day and into the evening for the final battle. The consolation round for third place was between champion Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Nissan 350Z and Michael Essa in the Nitto Tires / GSR Autosport BMW 350R. Essa made it the furthest in his career after failing to make the Top 32 during Round 1. Forsberg showcased why he is the current champion and why he won the the event at Road Atlanta last season by beating out Essa for third place. Daijiro Yoshihara earned the victory with solid driving throughout the weekend and made his way to the Tires.com Triple Crown leaderboard. The final battle was between Yoshihara and winner of Round 1: Streets of Long Beach, Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the Monster Energy / Falken Tires Ford Mustang with Yoshihara edging his way past his Falken Tires teammate. Gittin found the podium for the second consecutive event and retains the lead in the Formula DRIFT Pro Championship points standings.

“I am so excited to be back in the game,” said Daijiro Yoshihara, winner of Round 2: Road to the Championship. “I haven’t been on the podium for two years and I proved to myself that I can compete once again in Formula DRIFT. Formula DRIFT is the most competitive series in the world and it feels great to be on top. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my sponsors at Discount Tire, Falken Tire, KW Suspension, Sparco, and the crew at SPD Metal Works.”

The action continues on June 4-5, 2010 for Round 3: The Gauntlet at Wall Speedway in New Jersey. Tickets are available on-line. For more information and details visit the Formula DRIFT website at: www.formuladrift.com

Long Beach, Calif. – April 26, 2010 – Formula DRIFT launched the new Drift Stream with YoParts.com at Round 1: Streets of Long Beach with over 70,000 fans tuning in to watch the event live.

The Drift Stream debuted to rave reviews from drifting fans across the globe after the announcement was made last month of the partnership of Formula DRIFT and YoParts.com to bring live interactive streaming to the 2010 Pro Championship season. The Drift Stream debuted at Round 1: Streets of Long Beach with over 45,000 unique visitors watching live over the weekend. The Formula DRIFT fans consumed over 1.6 million minutes of action in the 2-day event weekend.

“The Drift Stream was a huge success and we look forward to bringing all the Formula DRIFT action to the fans worldwide this season,” said Ryan Sage, co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Fans are not only able to watch via the Formula DRIFT website, but can also embed the Drift Stream to their social networking sites and blogs, and even watch live on select mobile devices. Formula DRIFT will reach a fans across the globe and bring all the action right to them.”

Fans watched on multiple websites and mobile devices that included the Formula DRIFT website, Facebook, and various personal websites and blogs. Viewers watched from over 128 countries with the country of Norway leading the way with over 5000 fans cheering and watching their countryman Fredrick Aasbo make his official Formula DRIFT debut and finishing fourth place overall at the event. 25,000 unique visitors also utilized the “On-Demand” feature of the Drift Stream player to watch all of the action from both Friday and Saturday’s event.

“Overall we are excited to bring the Formula DRIFT experience to a worldwide audience in a way that would encapsulate a live look and feel and it was made possible through the support of Formula DRIFT, Belle-1 Communications, Mishimoto Automotive, Royal Purple and Need for Speed,” said Tom Masiero, co-founder of YoParts.com. “We were able to make that happen and are excited about creating a better viewing experience each event for the Formula DRIFT fan base.”

The Drift Stream will continue at Round 2: Road to the Championship on May 7-8 in Braselton, GA when Formula DRIFT returns to Road Atlanta. Last season Round 2 proved to be one of the most entertaining and exciting events of the season with Formula DRIFT champion Chris Forsberg taking the victory on his way to the championship.